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118-605: All state jury trials are held in the Superior Court. The court is located in each of Maine's 16 counties (with two locations in Aroostook County ), in eight judicial regions. The Court consists of 18 justices who all have statewide jurisdiction and travel to the different courthouses to hold court, with a number of active retired judges as well. Justices are nominated by the Governor and confirmed by

236-423: A praetor performing many of the duties of a judge. High government officials and their relatives were barred from acting as judices, due to conflicts of interest. Those previously found guilty of serious crimes (felonies) were also barred as were gladiators for hire, who likely were hired to resolve disputes through trial by combat . The law was as follows: The peregrine praetor (literally, traveling judge) within

354-542: A trilogy . His Oresteia is the only extant ancient example. At least one of his plays was influenced by the Persians' second invasion of Greece (480–479 BC). This work, The Persians , is one of very few classical Greek tragedies concerned with contemporary events, and the only one extant. The significance of the war with Persia was so great to Aeschylus and the Greeks that his epitaph commemorates his participation in

472-412: A bias. These juries differed from the modern sort by being self-informing; instead of getting information through a trial, the jurors were required to investigate the case themselves. In the 12th century, Henry II took a major step in developing the jury system. Henry II set up a system to resolve land disputes using juries. A jury of twelve free men were assigned to arbitrate in these disputes. As with

590-515: A ceramic disk with an axle in its middle: the axle was either hollow or solid. Thus the way they voted was kept secret because the jurists would hold their disk by the axle by thumb and forefinger, thus hiding whether its axle was hollow or solid. Since Periclean times, jurists were compensated for their sitting in court, with the amount of one day's wages. The institution of trial by jury was ritually depicted by Aeschylus in The Eumenides ,

708-575: A chapter in a continuous dramatic narrative. The Oresteia is the only extant example of this type of connected trilogy, but there is evidence that Aeschylus often wrote such trilogies. The satyr plays that followed his tragic trilogies also drew from myth. The satyr play Proteus , which followed the Oresteia , treated the story of Menelaus' detour in Egypt on his way home from the Trojan War . It

826-622: A character in the play and claims, at line 1022, that his Seven against Thebes "made everyone watching it to love being warlike". He claims, at lines 1026–7, that with The Persians he "taught the Athenians to desire always to defeat their enemies." Aeschylus goes on to say, at lines 1039ff., that his plays inspired the Athenians to be brave and virtuous. Aeschylus' works were influential beyond his own time. Hugh Lloyd-Jones draws attention to Richard Wagner 's reverence of Aeschylus. Michael Ewans argues in his Wagner and Aeschylus. The Ring and

944-747: A circuit. A criminal accused by this jury was given a trial by ordeal . The Church banned participation of clergy in trial by ordeal in 1215. Without the legitimacy of religion, trial by ordeal collapsed. The juries under the assizes began deciding guilt as well as providing accusations. The same year, trial by jury became an explicit right in one of the most influential clauses of Magna Carta . Article 39 of Magna Carta read: Nullus liber homo capiatur, vel imprisonetur, aut desseisetur de libero tenemento, vel libertatibus, vel liberis consuetudinibus suis, aut utlagetur, aut exuletur, aut aliquo modo destruatur, nec super eum ibimus, nec super eum mittemus, nisi per legale judicium parium suorum, vel per legem terrae. It

1062-481: A common law system. Ancient Athens had a mechanism, called dikastaí , to assure that no one could select jurors for their own trial. For normal cases, the courts were made up of dikastai of up to 500 citizens. For capital cases—those that involved death, loss of liberty, exile, loss of civil rights, or seizure of property—the trial was before a jury of 1,001 to 1,501 dikastai . In such large juries, they rule by majority. Juries were appointed by lot. Jurists cast

1180-402: A democratic Athens are praised. Prometheus Bound is attributed to Aeschylus by ancient authorities. Since the late 19th century, however, scholars have increasingly doubted this ascription, largely on stylistic grounds. Its production date is also in dispute, with theories ranging from the 480s BC to as late as the 410s. The play consists mostly of static dialogue. The Titan Prometheus

1298-717: A falling object, but this story may be legendary and due to a misunderstanding of the iconography on Aeschylus' tomb. Aeschylus' work was so respected by the Athenians that after his death his tragedies were the only ones allowed to be restaged in subsequent competitions. His sons Euphorion and Euæon and his nephew Philocles also became playwrights. The inscription on Aeschylus' gravestone makes no mention of his theatrical renown, commemorating only his military achievements: Αἰσχύλον Εὐφορίωνος Ἀθηναῖον τόδε κεύθει μνῆμα καταφθίμενον πυροφόροιο Γέλας· ἀλκὴν δ' εὐδόκιμον Μαραθώνιον ἄλσος ἂν εἴποι καὶ βαθυχαιτήεις Μῆδος ἐπιστάμενος Beneath this stone lies Aeschylus, son of Euphorion,

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1416-545: A guide. The Furies track him down, and Athena steps in and declares that a trial is necessary. Apollo argues Orestes' case, and after the judges (including Athena) deliver a tie vote, Athena announces that Orestes is acquitted. She renames the Furies The Eumenides (The Good-spirited, or Kindly Ones), and extols the importance of reason in the development of laws. As in The Suppliants , the ideals of

1534-401: A life sentence, although only 11-1 or 10-1 majorities are allowed. Aeschylus Aeschylus ( UK : / ˈ iː s k ɪ l ə s / , US : / ˈ ɛ s k ɪ l ə s / ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Αἰσχύλος Aischýlos ; c.  525 /524 – c.  456 /455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian often described as the father of tragedy . Academic knowledge of

1652-606: A link between the king’s reforms and the legal system of the Kingdom of Sicily . A Swabian ordinance of 1562 called for the summons of jurymen ( urtheiler ), and various methods were in use in Emmendingen , Oppenau , and Oberkirch . Hauenstein 's charter of 1442 secured the right to be tried in all cases by 24 fellow equals, and in Freiburg the jury was composed of 30 citizens and councilors. The modern jury trial

1770-686: A major part in the formation of dramatic literature from the Renaissance to the present, specifically in French and Elizabethan drama. He also claims that their influence went beyond just drama and applies to literature in general, citing Milton and the Romantics. Eugene O'Neill 's Mourning Becomes Electra (1931), a trilogy of three plays set in America after the Civil War, is modeled after

1888-456: A nightmare in which she gives birth to a snake is recounted by the chorus. This leads her to order her daughter, Electra , to pour libations on Agamemnon's tomb (with the assistance of libation bearers) in hope of making amends. Orestes enters the palace pretending to bear news of his own death. Clytemnestra calls in Aegisthus to learn the news. Orestes kills them both. Orestes is then beset by

2006-667: A procession which was followed by a competition of boys singing dithyrambs , and all culminated in a pair of dramatic competitions. The first competition Aeschylus would have participated in involved three playwrights each presenting three tragedies and one satyr play . A second competition involving five comedic playwrights followed, and the winners of both competitions were chosen by a panel of judges. Aeschylus entered many of these competitions, and various ancient sources attribute between seventy and ninety plays to him. Only seven tragedies attributed to him have survived intact: The Persians , Seven Against Thebes , The Suppliants ,

2124-501: A profound impact on the nature of American civil procedure and criminal procedure rules, even if a bench trial is actually contemplated in a particular case. In general, the availability of a jury trial if properly demanded has given rise to a system in which fact finding is concentrated in a single trial rather than multiple hearings, and appellate review of trial court decisions is greatly limited. Jury trials are of far less importance (or of no importance) in countries that do not have

2242-673: A ruling dynasty in Argos. The other 49 Danaids are absolved of their murders, and married off to unspecified Argive men. The satyr play following this trilogy was titled Amymone , after one of the Danaids. Besides a few missing lines, the Oresteia of 458 BC is the only complete trilogy of Greek plays by any playwright still extant (of Proteus , the satyr play which followed, only fragments are known). Agamemnon and The Libation Bearers ( Choephoroi ) and The Eumenides together tell

2360-444: A spectacular coup de théâtre . A scale is brought on stage and Hector's body is placed in one scale and gold in the other. The dynamic dancing of the chorus of Trojans when they enter with Priam is reported by Aristophanes . The children of Niobe , the heroine, have been slain by Apollo and Artemis because Niobe had gloated that she had more children than their mother, Leto . Niobe sits in silent mourning on stage during most of

2478-541: A summary proceeding with a panel of three lay magistrates or a district judge sitting alone), unless they are tried alongside indictable or either way offences that are themselves tried by jury, but the defendant has a right to demand a jury trial for either way offences. The situation is similar in Scotland; whereas in Northern Ireland even summary offences carry a right to jury trial, with some exceptions. In

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2596-542: A trilogy about the madness and subsequent suicide of the Greek hero Ajax . Aeschylus seems to have written about Odysseus ' return to Ithaca after the war (including his killing of his wife Penelope 's suitors and its consequences) in a trilogy consisting of The Soul-raisers , Penelope , and The Bone-gatherers . Other suggested trilogies touched on the myth of Jason and the Argonauts ( Argô , Lemnian Women , Hypsipylê ),

2714-496: A unanimous decision has not been made within two hours. Since 1943, verdicts of not guilty for murder and treason have also been included, but must be deliberated for six hours. The Northern Territory has allowed majority verdicts of 10-2, 10-1 and 9-1 since 1963 for all charges. Deliberation must go for at least six hours before delivering a majority verdict. The Queensland Jury Act 1995 (s 59F) allows majority verdicts for all crimes except for murder and other offences that carry

2832-399: Is a long-standing debate regarding the authorship of one of them , Prometheus Bound , with some scholars arguing that it may be the work of his son Euphorion . Fragments from other plays have survived in quotations, and more continue to be discovered on Egyptian papyri . These fragments often give further insights into Aeschylus' work. He was likely the first dramatist to present plays as

2950-452: Is an important part. Jury trials in criminal cases were a protected right in the original United States Constitution and the Fifth , Sixth , and Seventh Amendments of the U.S. Constitution extend the right to a jury trial for both criminal and civil matters and a grand jury for serious cases. In most common law jurisdictions, the jury is responsible for finding the facts of the case, while

3068-540: Is assumed, based on the evidence provided by a catalogue of Aeschylean play titles, scholia , and play fragments recorded by later authors, that three other extant plays of his were components of connected trilogies: Seven Against Thebes was the final play in an Oedipus trilogy, and The Suppliants and Prometheus Bound were each the first play in a Danaid trilogy and Prometheus trilogy, respectively. Scholars have also suggested several completely lost trilogies, based on known play titles. A number of these treated myths about

3186-562: Is bound to a rock throughout, which is his punishment from the Olympian Zeus for providing fire to humans. The god Hephaestus and the Titan Oceanus and the chorus of Oceanids all express sympathy for Prometheus' plight. Prometheus is met by Io , a fellow victim of Zeus' cruelty. He prophesies her future travels, revealing that one of her descendants will free Prometheus. The play closes with Zeus sending Prometheus into

3304-463: Is distinguished from a bench trial , in which a judge or panel of judges makes all decisions. Jury trials are increasingly used in a significant share of serious criminal cases in many common law judicial systems, but not all. Juries or lay judges have also been incorporated into the legal systems of many civil law countries for criminal cases. The use of jury trials, which evolved within common law systems rather than civil law systems, has had

3422-681: Is needed to use them. All Australian states allow for peremptory challenges in jury selection; however, the number of challenges granted to the counsels in each state are not all the same. Until 1987 New South Wales had twenty peremptory challenges for each side where the offence was murder, and eight for all other cases. In 1987 this was lowered to three peremptory challenges per side, the same amount allowed in South Australia . Eight peremptory challenges are allowed for both counsels for all offences in Queensland . Victoria , Tasmania and

3540-505: Is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness; but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black ... Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world." The quotation from Aeschylus

3658-578: Is obvious, that juries were then no manner of security to the liberty of the subject. The first paragraph of the Act that abolished the Star Chamber repeats the clause on the right of a citizen to be judged by his peers: WHEREAS by the great charter many times confirmed in parliament, it is enacted, That no freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or disseised of his freehold or liberties, or free customs, or be outlawed or exiled or otherwise destroyed, and that

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3776-662: Is one of the first countries in Latin America that has implemented trial by jury. Although it has a civil law process, since November 2015, it has a jury system for serious criminal cases. Section 80 of the Australian Constitution provides that: "The trial on indictment of any offence against any law of the Commonwealth shall be by jury, and every such trial shall be held in the State where the offence

3894-497: Is the father, brother, or son of a person who is or has been a member of the Senate, or who is overseas. In classical Islamic jurisprudence , litigants in court may obtain notarized statements from between three and twelve witnesses. When the statements of all witnesses are consistent, the notaries will certify their unanimous testimony in a legal document, which may be used to support the litigant's claim. The notaries serve to free

4012-486: Is translated thus by Lysander Spooner in his Essay on the Trial by Jury : No free man shall be captured, and or imprisoned, or disseised of his freehold, and or of his liberties, or of his free customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor will we proceed against him by force or proceed against him by arms, but by the lawful judgment of his peers, and or by the law of the land. Although it says "and or by

4130-453: The ACT requires unanimous verdicts. Since 1927 South Australia has permitted majority verdicts of 11-1 (or 10-1 or 9-1 in cases where the jury has been reduced) in criminal trials if a unanimous verdict cannot be reached in four hours. These are accepted in all cases except for guilty verdicts if the defendant is on trial for murder or treason . Victoria has accepted majority verdicts with

4248-752: The Battle of Plataea in 479 BC. Ion of Chios was a witness for Aeschylus' war record and his contribution in Salamis. Salamis holds a prominent place in The Persians , his oldest surviving play, which was performed in 472 BC and won first prize at the Dionysia. Aeschylus was one of many Greeks who were initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries , an ancient cult of Demeter based in his home town of Eleusis. According to Aristotle , Aeschylus

4366-621: The Battle of Salamis . It is unique among surviving Greek tragedies in that it describes a recent historical event. The Persians focuses on the popular Greek theme of hubris and blames Persia's loss on the pride of its king. It opens with the arrival of a messenger in Susa , the Persian capital, bearing news of the catastrophic Persian defeat at Salamis, to Atossa , the mother of the Persian King Xerxes . Atossa then travels to

4484-535: The Furies , who avenge the murders of kin in Greek mythology. The third play addresses the question of Orestes' guilt. The Furies drive Orestes from Argos and into the wilderness. He makes his way to the temple of Apollo and begs Apollo to drive the Furies away. Apollo had encouraged Orestes to kill Clytemnestra, so he bears some of the guilt for the murder. Apollo sends Orestes to the temple of Athena with Hermes as

4602-567: The Maine Senate and are appointed to seven-year terms. Maine's Supreme Judicial Court created a statewide Business and Consumer Docket (BCD), which includes within its jurisdiction complex case types that might be found on other states' business and commercial court dockets; but also includes, for example, class actions and complex consumer rights cases arising out of business or government dealings. Cases eligible for this specialized docket are cases that could otherwise have been heard in

4720-526: The Northern Territory allow for six. Western Australia allows three peremptory challenges per side unless there is more than one accused in which case the prosecution can peremptorily challenge 3 times the number of accused and each accused has 3 peremptory challenges. In Australia, majority verdicts are allowed in South Australia , Victoria , Western Australia , Tasmania , the Northern Territory , New South Wales and Queensland , while

4838-474: The Oresteia . Before writing his acclaimed trilogy, O'Neill had been developing a play about Aeschylus, and he noted that Aeschylus "so changed the system of the tragic stage that he has more claim than anyone else to be regarded as the founder (Father) of Tragedy." During his presidential campaign in 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy quoted the Edith Hamilton translation of Aeschylus on the night of

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4956-793: The Prussian Ministry of Justice proposed to abolish the jury and replace it with the mixed system, causing a significant political debate. In the Weimar Republic the jury was abolished by the Emminger Reform of 4 January 1924. Between 1948 and 1950 in American-occupied Germany and the Federal Republic of Germany , Bavaria returned to the jury trial as it had existed before the 1933 emergency decrees, but they were again abolished by

5074-539: The United States , jury trials are available in both civil and criminal cases. In Canada , an individual charged with an indictable offence may elect to be tried by a judge alone in a provincial court, by judge alone in a superior court, or by judge and jury in a superior court; summary offences cannot be tried by jury. In England and Wales , offences are classified as summary, indictable, or either way; jury trials are not available for summary offences (using instead

5192-638: The Viking occupation: "The Scandinavians, when not on the Viking warpath, were a litigious people and loved to get together in the thing [governing assembly] to hear legal argument. They had no professional lawyers, but many of their farmer-warriors, like Njáll Þorgeirsson , the truth-teller, were learned in folk custom and in its intricate judicial procedure. A Danish town in England often had, as its main officers, twelve hereditary 'law men.' The Danes introduced

5310-428: The chorus . Aeschylus added a second actor, allowing for greater dramatic variety, while the chorus played a less important role. He is sometimes credited with introducing skenographia , or scene-decoration, though Aristotle gives this distinction to Sophocles. Aeschylus is also said to have made the costumes more elaborate and dramatic, and made his actors wear platform boots ( cothurni ) to make them more visible to

5428-479: The judge from the time-consuming task of hearing the testimony of each eyewitness himself, and their documents serve to legally authenticate each oral testimony. The Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence requires two notaries to collect a minimum of twelve eyewitness statements in certain legal cases, including those involving unregistered marriages and land disputes. John Makdisi has compared this to English Common Law jury trials under King Henry II , surmising

5546-807: The 1950 Unification Act ( Vereinheitlichungsgesetz ) for the Federal Republic. In 1979, the United States tried the East German LOT Flight 165 hijacking suspects in the United States Court for Berlin in West Berlin, which declared the defendants had the right to a jury trial under the United States Constitution , and hence were tried by a West German jury. According to George Macaulay Trevelyan in A Shortened History of England , during

5664-466: The 470s BC, having been invited by Hiero I , tyrant of Syracuse , a major Greek city on the eastern side of the island. He produced The Women of Aetna during one of these trips (in honor of the city founded by Hieron), and restaged his Persians . By 473 BC, after the death of Phrynichus , one of his chief rivals, Aeschylus was the yearly favorite in the Dionysia, winning first prize in nearly every competition. In 472 BC, Aeschylus staged

5782-562: The Argive-Egyptian war threatened in the first play has transpired. King Pelasgus was killed during the war, and Danaus rules Argos. Danaus negotiates a settlement with Aegyptus, a condition of which requires his 50 daughters to marry the 50 sons of Aegyptus. Danaus secretly informs his daughters of an oracle which predicts that one of his sons-in-law would kill him. He orders the Danaids to murder their husbands therefore on their wedding night. His daughters agree. The Danaids would open

5900-522: The Athenian, who perished in the wheat-bearing land of Gela; of his noble prowess the grove of Marathon can speak, and the long-haired Persian knows it well. The seeds of Greek drama were sown in religious festivals for the gods, chiefly Dionysus , the god of wine. During Aeschylus' lifetime, dramatic competitions became part of the City Dionysia , held in spring. The festival opened with

6018-527: The Greek victory at Marathon while making no mention of his success as a playwright. Aeschylus was born around 525 BC in Eleusis , a small town about 27 kilometres (17 mi) northwest of Athens , in the fertile valleys of western Attica . Some scholars argue that the date of Aeschylus's birth may be based on counting back 40 years from his first victory in the Great Dionysia . His family

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6136-455: The King will not pass upon him, or condemn him; but by lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land ... In 1670 two Quakers charged with unlawful assembly , William Penn and William Mead , were found not guilty by a jury. The judge then fined the jury for contempt of court for returning a verdict contrary to their own findings of fact and removed them to prison until the fine

6254-712: The Marches by the judgement of equals. English law shall apply to holdings of land in England, Welsh law to those in Wales, and the law of the Marches to those in the Marches. The Welsh shall treat us and ours in the same way. During the mid-14th century, persons who had sat on the Presenting Jury (i.e., in modern parlance, the grand jury ) were forbidden to sit on the trial jury for that crime. 25 Edward III stat 5., c3 (1353). Medieval juries were self-informing, in that individuals were chosen as jurors because they either knew

6372-520: The Oresteia (London: Faber. 1982) that the influence was so great as to merit a direct character by character comparison between Wagner's Ring and Aeschylus's Oresteia . But a critic of that book, while not denying that Wagner read and respected Aeschylus, has described the arguments as unreasonable and forced. J.T. Sheppard argues in the second half of his Aeschylus and Sophocles: Their Work and Influence that Aeschylus and Sophocles have played

6490-462: The Saxon system, these men were charged with uncovering the facts of the case on their own rather than listening to arguments in court. Henry II also introduced what is now known as the " grand jury " through his Assize of Clarendon . Under the assize, a jury of free men was charged with reporting any crimes that they knew of in their hundred to a "justice in eyre", a judge who moved between hundreds on

6608-412: The Senate, or who has fought or shall fight as a gladiator for hire ... or who has been condemned by the judicial process and a public trial whereby he cannot be enrolled in the Senate, or who is less than thirty or more than sixty years of age, or who does not have his residence in the city of Rome or within one mile of it, or who is the father, brother, or son of any above-described magistrate, or who

6726-613: The Superior Court or Maine's District Court. The BCD has a distinct set of procedural rules . The BCD has two assigned judges from either the Superior or District Courts, who are designated by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court. As of June 2024, the current BCD judges are Superior Court judge Thomas McKeon and District Court judge Michael A. Duddy. Then Superior Court Chief Justice Thomas E. Humphrey

6844-570: The Supreme Judicial Court and shall be responsible for the operation of the Superior Court." 4 MRSA §101-A. As of April 20, 2023 , the justices of the Maine Superior Court are: Active-retired justices of the Maine Superior Court: The former justices of the court are: Jury trial A jury trial , or trial by jury , is a legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or findings of fact . It

6962-659: The Trojan War. One, collectively called the Achilleis , comprised Myrmidons , Nereids and Phrygians (alternately, The Ransoming of Hector ). Another trilogy apparently recounted the entrance of the Trojan ally Memnon into the war, and his death at the hands of Achilles ( Memnon and The Weighing of Souls being two components of the trilogy). The Award of the Arms , The Phrygian Women , and The Salaminian Women suggest

7080-423: The United States, because jury trials tend to be high profile, the general public tends to overestimate the frequency of jury trials. Approximately 150,000 jury trials are conducted in state courts annually, and an additional 5,000 jury trials are conducted in federal courts. Two-thirds of jury trials are criminal trials, while one-third are civil and "other" (e.g., family, municipal ordinance, traffic). Nevertheless,

7198-478: The absolute monarchies in Europe contain, at present, so illegal and despotic a tribunal. While so many terrors hung over the people, no jury durst have acquitted a man, when the court was resolved to have him condemned. The practice also, of not confronting witnesses to the prisoner, gave the crown lawyers all imaginable advantage against him. And, indeed, there scarcely occurs an instance, during all these reigns, that

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7316-503: The abyss because Prometheus will not tell him of a potential marriage which could prove Zeus' downfall. Prometheus Bound seems to have been the first play in a trilogy, the Prometheia . In the second play, Prometheus Unbound , Heracles frees Prometheus from his chains and kills the eagle that had been sent daily to eat Prometheus' perpetually regenerating liver, then believed the source of feeling. We learn that Zeus has released

7434-541: The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Kennedy was notified of King's murder before a campaign stop in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was warned not to attend the event due to fears of rioting from the mostly African-American crowd. Kennedy insisted on attending and delivered an impromptu speech that delivered news of King's death. Acknowledging the audience's emotions, Kennedy referred to his own grief at

7552-509: The audience. According to a later account of Aeschylus' life, the chorus of Furies in the first performance of the Eumenides were so frightening when they entered that children fainted and patriarchs urinated and pregnant women went into labour. Aeschylus wrote his plays in verse. No violence is performed onstage. The plays have a remoteness from daily life in Athens, relating stories about

7670-491: The beginning of the republic and in the majority of civil cases towards the end of the empire, there were tribunals with the characteristics of the jury in the sense that Roman judges were civilian, lay and not professionals. Capital trials were held in front of hundreds or thousands of 'juries' in the commitias or centuries, the same as in Athenian trials. Roman law provided for the yearly selection of judices, who would be responsible for resolving disputes by acting as jurors, with

7788-429: The burial of Polynices, and Antigone declares her intention to defy this edict. The play was the third in a connected Oedipus trilogy. The first two plays were Laius and Oedipus . The concluding satyr play was The Sphinx . Aeschylus continued his emphasis on the polis with The Suppliants ( Hiketides ) in 463 BC. The play gives tribute to the democratic undercurrents which were running through Athens and preceding

7906-422: The consent of the people. According to some sources, in the time of Edward III, "by the law of the land" had been substituted "by due process of law", which in those times was a trial by twelve peers. In 1215, Magna Carta further secured defendants the right to a judgement of "reputable men of the neighbourhood"/"their equals" by stating that For a trivial offence, a free man shall be fined only in proportion to

8024-418: The day after the wedding. It is revealed that 49 of the 50 Danaids killed their husbands. Hypermnestra did not kill her husband, Lynceus, and helped him escape. Danaus is angered by his daughter's disobedience and orders her imprisonment and possibly execution. In the trilogy's climax and dénouement, Lynceus reveals himself to Danaus and kills him, thus fulfilling the oracle. He and Hypermnestra will establish

8142-667: The defendant to waive their right to a jury trial, thus leading to a bench trial . Jury trials tend to occur only when a crime is considered serious. In some jurisdictions, such as France and Brazil , jury trials are reserved, and compulsory, for the most severe crimes and are not available for civil cases. In Brazil, trials by jury are applied in cases of voluntary crimes against life, such as first and second degree murder, forced abortion and instigation of suicide, even if only attempted. In others, jury trials are only available for criminal cases and very specific civil cases ( malicious prosecution , civil fraud and false imprisonment ). In

8260-435: The defendant was guilty or not guilty, but they had a third choice: "Guilty, but not to be punished", since Alexander II believed that justice without morality was wrong. In France and some countries organized in the same fashion, the jury and several professional judges sit together to determine guilt first. Then, if guilt is determined, they decide the appropriate penalty. Some jurisdictions with jury trials allow

8378-468: The degree of his offence, and for a serious offence correspondingly, but not so heavily as to deprive him of his livelihood. In the same way, a merchant shall be spared his merchandise, and a husbandman the implements of his husbandry, if they fall upon the mercy of a royal court. None of these fines shall be imposed except by the assessment on oath of reputable men of the neighbourhood. Earls and barons shall be fined only by their equals, and in proportion to

8496-541: The discipline and rigor needed to limit raw discretion of judges and other bureaucrats. In particular, he praises the adversarial nature of the American system as a more effective way to uncover truths than the judge-led process in Europe. He further argues that being face-to-face in open court can help to bring humanity into the courtroom, by reminding decision-makers that everyone involved are humans with souls. Overall, jury use has been increasing worldwide. Argentina

8614-423: The establishment of a democratic government in 461. The Danaids (50 daughters of Danaus , founder of Argos ) flee a forced marriage to their cousins in Egypt. They turn to King Pelasgus of Argos for protection, but Pelasgus refuses until the people of Argos weigh in on the decision (a distinctly democratic move on the part of the king). The people decide that the Danaids deserve protection and are allowed within

8732-475: The first prize at the City Dionysia thirteen times. This compares favorably with Sophocles' reported eighteen victories (with a substantially larger catalogue, an estimated 120 plays), and dwarfs the five victories of Euripides, who is thought to have written roughly 90 plays. One hallmark of Aeschylean dramaturgy appears to have been his tendency to write connected trilogies in which each play serves as

8850-405: The genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is largely based on inferences made from reading his surviving plays. According to Aristotle , he expanded the number of characters in the theatre and allowed conflict among them. Formerly, characters interacted only with the chorus . Only seven of Aeschylus's estimated 70 to 90 plays have survived in complete form. There

8968-752: The gods would restore the winds and allow the Greek fleet to sail to Troy. Clytemnestra was also unhappy that Agamemnon kept the Trojan prophetess Cassandra as his concubine. Cassandra foretells the murder of Agamemnon and of herself to the assembled townsfolk, who are horrified. She then enters the palace knowing that she cannot avoid her fate. The ending of the play includes a prediction of the return of Orestes , son of Agamemnon, who will seek to avenge his father. The Libation Bearers opens with Orestes' arrival at Agamemnon's tomb, from exile in Phocis . Electra meets Orestes there. They plan revenge against Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus . Clytemnestra's account of

9086-486: The gods, or being set, like The Persians , far away. Aeschylus' work has a strong moral and religious emphasis. The Oresteia trilogy concentrated on humans' position in the cosmos relative to the gods and divine law and divine punishment. Aeschylus' popularity is evident in the praise that the comic playwright Aristophanes gives him in The Frogs , produced some 50 years after Aeschylus' death. Aeschylus appears as

9204-445: The gravity of their offence. To any man whom we have deprived or dispossessed of lands, castles, liberties, or rights, without the lawful judgement of his equals, we will at once restore these. If we have deprived or dispossessed any Welshmen of lands, liberties, or anything else in England or in Wales, without the lawful judgement of their equals, these are at once to be returned to them. A dispute on this point shall be determined in

9322-665: The habit of making committees among the free men in court, which perhaps made England favorable ground for the future growth of the jury system out of a Frankish custom later introduced by the Normans." The English king Æthelred the Unready set up an early legal system through the Wantage Code of Ethelred, one provision of which stated that the twelve leading thegns (minor nobles) of each wapentake (a small district) were required to swear that they would investigate crimes without

9440-471: The importance of the deme over family tradition. In the last decade of the 6th century, Aeschylus and his family were living in the deme of Eleusis. The Persian Wars played a large role in Aeschylus' life and career. In 490 BC, he and his brother Cynegeirus fought to defend Athens against the invading army of Darius I of Persia at the Battle of Marathon . The Athenians emerged triumphant, and

9558-537: The judge determines the law. These "peers of the accused" are responsible for listening to a dispute, evaluating the evidence presented, deciding on the facts, and making a decision in accordance with the rules of law and their jury instructions . Typically, the jury only judges a verdict of guilty or not guilty, but the actual penalty is set by the judge. Following the judicial reform of Alexander II in Russia , unlike in modern jury trials, jurors decided not only whether

9676-441: The jury and the barons, and only under the rule of laws that the juries and barons found acceptable), the kings, through the royal judges, began to extend their control over the jury and the kingdom. In David Hume 's History of England , he tells something of the powers that the kings had accumulated in the times after Magna Carta, the prerogatives of the crown and the sources of great power with which these monarchs counted: One of

9794-528: The jury sympathetic to the military service of him and his brothers during the Persian Wars. According to the 2nd-century AD author Aelian, Aeschylus' younger brother Ameinias helped to acquit Aeschylus by showing the jury the stump of the hand he had lost at Salamis, where he was voted bravest warrior. The truth is that the award for bravery at Salamis went not to Aeschylus' brother but to Ameinias of Pallene. Aeschylus travelled to Sicily once or twice in

9912-399: The last time, visiting the city of Gela , where he died in 456 or 455 BC. Valerius Maximus wrote that he was killed outside the city by a tortoise dropped by an eagle which had mistaken his head for a rock suitable for shattering the shell, and killed him. Pliny , in his Naturalis Historiæ , adds that Aeschylus had been staying outdoors to avoid a prophecy that he would be killed by

10030-401: The law of the land", this in no manner can be interpreted as if it were enough to have a positive law, made by the king, to be able to proceed legally against a citizen. The law of the land was the consuetudinary law , based on the customs and consent of John's subjects, and since they did not have Parliament in those times, this meant that neither the king nor the barons could make a law without

10148-553: The life of Perseus ( The Net-draggers , Polydektês , Phorkides ), the birth and exploits of Dionysus ( Semele , Bacchae , Pentheus ), and the aftermath of the war portrayed in Seven Against Thebes ( Eleusinians , Argives (or Argive Women ), Sons of the Seven ). The Persians ( Persai ) is the earliest of Aeschylus' extant plays. It was performed in 472 BC. It was based on Aeschylus' own experiences, specifically

10266-399: The mortal Peleus. The product of that union is Achilles, Greek hero of the Trojan War. After reconciling with Prometheus, Zeus probably inaugurates a festival in his honor at Athens. Of Aeschylus' other plays, only titles and assorted fragments are known. There are enough fragments (along with comments made by later authors and scholiasts) to produce rough synopses for some plays. This play

10384-475: The most ancient and most established instruments of power was the court of Star Chamber , which possessed an unlimited discretionary authority of fining, imprisoning, and inflicting corporal punishment, and whose jurisdiction extended to all sorts of offenses, contempts, and disorders, that lay not within reach of the common law. The members of this court consisted of the privy council and the judges; men who all of them enjoyed their offices during pleasure: And when

10502-472: The murder of Martin Luther King and, quoting a passage from the play Agamemnon (in translation), said: "My favorite poet was Aeschylus. And he once wrote: 'Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.' What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States

10620-430: The nascent art of tragedy. As soon as he woke, he began to write a tragedy, and his first performance took place in 499 BC, when he was 26 years old. He won his first victory at the Dionysia in 484 BC. In 510 BC, when Aeschylus was 15 years old, Cleomenes I expelled the sons of Peisistratus from Athens, and Cleisthenes came to power. Cleisthenes' reforms included a system of registration that emphasized

10738-405: The next ten days after this law is passed by the people or plebs shall provide for the selection of 450 persons in this State who have or have had a knight's census ... provided that he does not select a person who is or has been plebeian tribune, quaestor, triumvir capitalis, military tribune in any of the first four legions, or triumvir for granting and assigning lands, or who is or has been in

10856-579: The other Titans which he imprisoned at the conclusion of the Titanomachy , perhaps foreshadowing his eventual reconciliation with Prometheus. In the trilogy's conclusion, Prometheus the Fire-Bringer , it seems that the Titan finally warns Zeus not to sleep with the sea nymph Thetis , for she is fated to beget a son greater than the father. Not wishing to be overthrown, Zeus marries Thetis off to

10974-422: The parties and the facts, or they had the duty to discover them. This spared the government the cost of fact-finding. Over time, English juries became less self-informing and relied more on the trial itself for information on the case. Jurors remained free to investigate cases on their own until the 17th century. Magna Carta being forgotten after a succession of benevolent reigns (or, more probably, reigns limited by

11092-550: The passing of the Jury Trials Amending Act of 1833 (NSW) (2 William IV No 12). The voir dire system of examining the jury pool before selection is not permitted in Australia as it violates the privacy of jurors. Therefore, though it exists, the right to challenge for cause during jury selection cannot be employed much. Peremptory challenges are usually based on the hunches of counsel and no reason

11210-458: The play. In the Republic , Plato quotes the line "God plants a fault in mortals when he wills to destroy a house utterly." These are the remaining 71 plays ascribed to Aeschylus which are known: The theatre was just beginning to evolve when Aeschylus started writing for it. Earlier playwrights such as Thespis had already expanded the cast to include an actor who was able to interact with

11328-431: The prince himself was present, he was the sole judge, and all the others could only interpose with their advice. There needed but this one court in any government, to put an end to all regular, legal, and exact plans of liberty. For who durst set himself in opposition to the crown and ministry, or aspire to the character of being a patron of freedom, while exposed to so arbitrary a jurisdiction? I much question, whether any of

11446-544: The production that included the Persians , with Pericles serving as choregos . Aeschylus married and had two sons, Euphorion and Euaeon, both of whom became tragic poets. Euphorion won first prize in 431 BC in competition against both Sophocles and Euripides . A nephew of Aeschylus, Philocles (his sister's son), was also a tragic poet, and won first prize in the competition against Sophocles' Oedipus Rex . Aeschylus had at least two brothers, Cynegeirus and Ameinias . In 458 BC, Aeschylus returned to Sicily for

11564-413: The rise of plea bargaining) were "unwitting and reflexive, generally wasteful of public resources and, because of the absence of trained professionals, little more than slow guilty pleas themselves", and that the guilty-plea system that emerged in the latter half of the nineteenth century was a superior, more cost-effective method of achieving fair outcomes. Robert Burns argues that the jury trial provides

11682-477: The same conditions since 1994, though deliberations must have gone for at least six hours before a majority verdict can be made. Western Australia accepted majority verdicts in 1957 for all trials except where the crime is murder or has a maximum penalty of life imprisonment: a 10-2 verdict is accepted. Majority verdicts of 10-2 have been allowed in Tasmania since 1936 for all cases, except murder and treason, if

11800-419: The sovereign, or the ministers, were ever disappointed in the issue of a prosecution. Timid juries, and judges who held their offices during pleasure, never failed to second all the views of the crown. And as the practice was anciently common of fining, imprisoning, or otherwise punishing the jurors, merely at the discretion of the court, for finding a verdict contrary to the direction of these dependent judges; it

11918-526: The state. In Constance the jury trial was suppressed by decree of the Habsburg monarchy in 1786. The Frankfurt Constitution of the failed Revolutions of 1848 called for jury trials for "the more serious crimes and all political offenses", but was never implemented after the Frankfurt Parliament was dissolved by Württemberg dragoons . An 1873 draft on criminal procedure produced by

12036-495: The third and final play of his Oresteia trilogy. In the play, the innovation is brought about by the goddess Athena , who summons twelve citizens to sit as jury. The god Apollo takes part in the trial as the advocate for the defendant Orestes and the Furies as prosecutors for the slain Clytemnestra . In the event the jury is split six to six , Athena dictates that the verdict should henceforth be for acquittal. From

12154-402: The throne of the city. After the first year, Eteocles refuses to step down. Polynices therefore undertakes war. The pair kill each other in single combat, and the original ending of the play consisted of lamentations for the dead brothers. But a new ending was added to the play some fifty years later: Antigone and Ismene mourn their dead brothers, a messenger enters announcing an edict prohibiting

12272-463: The tomb of Darius, her husband, where his ghost appears, to explain the cause of the defeat. It is, he says, the result of Xerxes' hubris in building a bridge across the Hellespont , an action which angered the gods. Xerxes appears at the end of the play, not realizing the cause of his defeat, and the play closes to lamentations by Xerxes and the chorus. Seven against Thebes ( Hepta epi Thebas )

12390-415: The trilogy known as The Oresteia (the three tragedies Agamemnon , The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides ), and Prometheus Bound (whose authorship is disputed). With the exception of this last play – the success of which is uncertain – all of Aeschylus's extant tragedies are known to have won first prize at the City Dionysia. The Alexandrian Life of Aeschylus claims that he won

12508-403: The vast majority of criminal cases are settled by plea bargain , which bypasses the jury trial. Some commentators contend that the guilty-plea system (and the high costs incurred in trials) unfairly coerces defendants into relinquishing their right to a jury trial. Others contend that there never was a golden age of jury trials, but rather that juries in the early nineteenth century (before

12626-404: The victory was celebrated across the city-states of Greece. Cynegeirus was killed while trying to prevent a Persian ship retreating from the shore, for which his countrymen extolled him as a hero. In 480 BC, Aeschylus was called into military service again, together with his younger brother Ameinias , against Xerxes I 's invading forces at the Battle of Salamis . Aeschylus also fought at

12744-505: The violent story of the family of Agamemnon , king of Argos . Aeschylus begins in Greece, describing the return of King Agamemnon from his victory in the Trojan War , from the perspective of the townspeople (the Chorus) and his wife, Clytemnestra . Dark foreshadowings build to the death of the king at the hands of his wife, who was angry that their daughter Iphigenia was killed so that

12862-411: The walls of Argos despite Egyptian protests. A Danaid trilogy had long been assumed because of The Suppliants' cliffhanger ending. This was confirmed by the 1952 publication of Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 2256 fr. 3. The constituent plays are generally agreed to be The Suppliants and The Egyptians and The Danaids . A plausible reconstruction of the trilogy's last two-thirds runs thus: In The Egyptians ,

12980-456: Was accused of asebeia (impiety) for revealing some of the cult's secrets on stage. Other sources claim that an angry mob tried to kill Aeschylus on the spot but he fled the scene. Heracleides of Pontus asserts that the audience tried to stone Aeschylus. Aeschylus took refuge at the altar in the orchestra of the Theater of Dionysus. He pleaded ignorance at his trial. He was acquitted, with

13098-632: Was based on books 18 and 19 and 22 of the Iliad . It follows the Daughters of Nereus, the sea god, who lament Patroclus' death. A messenger tells how Achilles (perhaps reconciled to Agamemnon and the Greeks) slew Hector . After a brief discussion with Hermes , Achilles sits in silent mourning over Patroclus. Hermes then brings in King Priam of Troy , who wins over Achilles and ransoms his son's body in

13216-582: Was based on books 9 and 16 of the Iliad . Achilles sits in silent indignation over his humiliation at Agamemnon's hands for most of the play. Envoys from the Greek army attempt to reconcile Achilles to Agamemnon , but he yields only to Patroclus , who then battles the Trojans in Achilles' armour. The bravery and death of Patroclus are reported in a messenger's speech, which is followed by mourning. This play

13334-578: Was committed, and if the offence was not committed within any State the trial shall be held at such place or places as the Parliament prescribes. The first trials by civilian juries of 12 in the colony of New South Wales were held in 1824, following a decision of the NSW Supreme Court on 14 October 1824. The NSW Constitution Act of 1828 effectively terminated trial by jury for criminal matters. Jury trials for criminal matters revived with

13452-533: Was first introduced in the Rhenish provinces in 1798, with a court consisting most commonly of 12 citizens ( Bürger ). The system whereby citizens were tried by their peers chosen from the entire community in open court was gradually superseded by a system of professional judges in Germany, in which the process of investigation was more or less confidential and judgements were issued by judges appointed by

13570-480: Was one of the first BCD judges, along with District Court Chief Justice John C. Nivison. The position of Chief Justice of the Maine Superior Court was authorized by the Maine Legislature , P.L. 1983, c. 269, § 7, to be effective on January 1, 1984. The Chief Justice is designated by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court to "serve at the pleasure and under the supervision of the Chief Justice of

13688-561: Was paid. Edward Bushel, a member of the jury, nonetheless refused to pay the fine. Bushel petitioned the Court of Common Pleas for a writ of habeas corpus . The ruling in the Bushel's Case was that a jury could not be punished simply on account of the verdict it returned. Many British colonies, including the United States , adopted the English common law system in which trial by jury

13806-456: Was performed in 467 BC. It has the contrasting theme of the interference of the gods in human affairs. Another theme, with which Aeschylus' would continually involve himself, makes its first known appearance in this play, namely that the polis was a key development of human civilization. The play tells the story of Eteocles and Polynices , the sons of the shamed king of Thebes , Oedipus . Eteocles and Polynices agree to share and alternate

13924-491: Was wealthy and well established. His father, Euphorion, was said to be a member of the Eupatridae , the ancient nobility of Attica, but this might be a fiction invented by the ancients to account for the grandeur of Aeschylus' plays. As a youth, Aeschylus worked at a vineyard until, according to the 2nd-century AD geographer Pausanias , the god Dionysus visited him in his sleep and commanded him to turn his attention to

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